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Thursday, 30 January 2014

Jackie Chan's Who Am I?

An elite special commando ops
team heads to the jungle of South Africa to kidnap a group of scientists who
are working on a new type of natural compound that has the ability to power a
small town. However, a fraction of this natural material has the explosive
energy of a nuclear weapon. When the team secure the compound and head back to
base, their helicopter is rigged to crash into the African desert. Only one
agent survives (Jackie Chan) but after falling from the helicopter just moments
before impact he wakes up in an African tribe, with no recollection of what
happened or who he is. He now has to discover his own identity and what
happened. Written by Jackie Chan and directed by Benny Chan and Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan’s Who Am I? (1998) is one of
the most underrated action Jackie films of the 90’s. Its compelling mystery narrative,
imaginative style, directing skills, phenomenal choreography both vehicle and
fighting makes this one of the greatest action films.

Like most Jackie Chan films,
Jackie’s performs has some pretty amazing escape routes that would even leave Harry
Houdini perplexed. No Jackie Chan film is ever complete without seeing him jump
from building to building and parkour from bedroom to living room, up and down
construction sites and using the environment to his advantage. Even massive
skyscrapers like the Willemswerf building are just slips and slides for Jackie
Chan.

With brilliant choreography comes
a phenomenal chase scene with the Mitsubishi Lancer. Performing a 180 degree
bootleg turn and reverse into an empty parking spot and watching the police
just drive by, a classic getaway. The chase scene is both extravagant and
beautifully imaginative, the awesome power of German BMW engineering chasing the
Japanese Mitsubishi gliding and ripping its tires through the streets of
Johannesburg. It is performances like
this that give such a brilliant atmosphere of thrilling suspense, action and
even give a comedic value.

As the film draws to an end, we
see Jackie’s Harry Houdini escape tactics, Spiderman like parkour skills but
not enough martial arts. However, all is not all lost and the Willemswerf
rooftop fight sequence makes up for this with some kickboxing mayhem. The last
fight sequence between Jackie Chan, a henchman and Dutch Kickboxer champion Ron
Smoorenburg is both comedic and intense. Two against one with Jackie Chan’s
frantic speed and deadly precision is a fantastic last fight sequence that
leads to the traditional Jackie Chan keep away sequences. With such a huge
space to fight on, the choreography between the three definitely makes for a
brilliant showdown.

Jackie Chan’s Who Am I? demonstrates excellent stunt work, brilliant car chase and a phenomenal final showdown fight scene that gives enough emotional drive to make this one of Jackie’s greatest action and adventure films. With Chan’s signature comedy-action also give a brilliant charm to the 90’s relic.